Eleventh Avenue Church To Mark
60th Anniversary on March 7, 2010

On Sunday, March 7, Eleventh Avenue Church will celebrate its 60th anniversary of ministry at the same location and the beginning of 61 years of ministry. Founding Pastor R. B. Shiflet, who will be 91 years old in early May, is scheduled to bring the 11:00 a.m. message. Pastor Charles Mays will bring the 10:00 a.m. message, and the afternoon speakers will be Pastor Gregg Bing from Grace Bible Church in Fort Worth and Pastor Mark Carr from Arlington Community Church..

The church building is located one block south of the West City Park. Services will feature congregational singing of the great old hymns of faith and special music. At noon a full dinner will be served in the Fellowship Hall. Everyone is invited to stay for this free meal.

Following lunch there will be afternoon services.

Eleventh Avenue Church is an independent Bible Church, not affiliated with any denomination. Historically it dates back to the 1920’s when Pastor Sidebottom, a 1928 graduate of Moody Bible Institute and pioneer radio preacher, conducted Bible classes in the home of Mrs. Alma Whatley, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Hardwick and in the Brazos Valley School. During the depression there was a mission in downtown Mineral Wells offering Christian services and food for the needy. The classes ceased to meet in the late 1940’s, but Pastor and Mrs. R. B. Shiflet began them again in the fall of 1949.

A Sunday School was organized and a small building for Sunday services began, and in 1950 regular Sunday morning services began. Brother Shiflet served as pastor for more than 50 years until his health made it impossible for him to continue.

Pastor Charles Mays, who grew up in Eleventh Avenue Church, is the current pastor.

If you are looking for a warm, friendly church, come visit us. You will notice several things are “different”. We have nothing to join. We believe all who trust Christ as Savior are members of God’s church, the Body of Christ and “complete in Him”. You will never be asked to sign a pledge card or be pressured for money. We don’t even have a collection plate.

We have a fine group of children and young people as well as senior citizens in their 80’s and 90’s. Our lovely building and parking areas are debt-free. We have several Family Bible Camps each year and in 2008 three of our teenagers spent a month in Costa Rick, working with our missionaries.

We have fellowship with Grace Gospel Fellowship in Grand Rapids, MI but we are not members. We work with foreign missionaries through Grace Ministries International, Grand Rapids and Things to Come Missions in Indianapolis.

Our building is easily accessible for handicapped (wheel chairs, walkers, crutches, etc.) with ramps and wheel chair accessible restrooms.
Throughout almost the entire 60 years we have had a broadcast on one or more local radio stations. The current broadcast can be heard each Sunday morning at 10:30 on FM 88.5 The Ram or archived on the church website..

The church also has a very active website with audio archives of the weekly sermons, weekly radio broadcasts and other audio features. The site, www.eleventhavenuechurch.com, also features the weekly church bulletin, Bible correspondence course and various bible study documents. Each month thousands of visitors view the website from an average of 35 to 40 different countries around the world.